Native version selector on project launch

This is becoming a bigger and bigger issue as we have so many long-life installations and as TouchDesigner upgrades are becoming less and less backwards compatible, managing multiple installations of TouchDesigner is a nightmare. We used to be able to install a 32-bit build and a 64-bit build so that we had 2 native installations and then we’d just uninstall/reinstall different versions as needed. Now there’s no 32-bit build, so we’ve started doing the other recommended way, which was to install TouchDesigner then rename the installation folder and make your own shortcuts to launch the app. This kind of works but introduces a host of other weird behaviours and seems to confuse Windows (and myself) a bit.

I think it’s a really important feature to have some kind of launcher app that will either automatically launch your toe file in the build it was last saved in (if that build exists on the computer) or would give you a dialogue so you could choose an alternate build to run it with (from a list of installed builds on your computer).

+1

+1

+1

Good RFE but just a note on currently running multiple versions. Installing and renaming the installation folder is NOT recommended. Some of the weird behavior you might be experiencing could be due to Window’s tight control over everything in the Program Files folder. I personally do not recommend ever renaming or moving these folders, you just end up with weird stuff happening.

The best way get multiple versions going is extract the files from the installer, do not run the installer.

  1. Open command line (ie. cmd)
  2. Run installer with /extract arguement

TouchDesigner099.2018.23470.64-Bit.exe /extract 3) Rename the extracted folder

Its really nice as these folders can be moved anywhere, distributed with projects, etc. You can run TD from anywhere you copy these folders to.
The wiki has been updated to reflect this info.
docs.derivative.ca/index.php?ti … chDesigner

Personally my approach; I use /extract for all the versions I need to keep around for certain projects or testing, and keep them in a specific folder. Then I use the installer for the very latest build I am using/testing as I just install over it every day and I know its always the latest.

that’s pretty useful info Ben